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■ Editor’s note: This is the second in a series examining the assessed valuation of ag land in Chase County and what rising valuation means in determining local tax levies.

By Russ Pankonin

The Imperial Republican

With rising property valuations, local governments can use those higher values to increase tax asking while still staying within the levy limits set by the state.

By far, the biggest share of local property taxes goes to fund education.

In the Chase County School District, that amount totals $6.149 million. Their 2013-14 property tax request represents an increase of 6.4 percent over last year’s request.

In the Wauneta-Palisade School District that figure totals $2.8 million. Their 2013-14 property tax request represents an increase of 13.3 percent, most of which came from increasing the general budget.

The taxing entity taking the biggest increase in tax requests due to increased valuations was the Upper Republican Natural Resources District.

Their askings increased $854,454 from last year’s budget, representing a 73.8 percent increase.

URNRD Manager Jasper Fanning said the increase in asking is due to costs for the augmentation projects in Dundy County and Lincoln County.

These costs include engineering, design, permitting and studies.

The NRD will also increase cash reserves.

The Imperial Airport Authority added $3,288 to the general operating fund and added another $11,382 in the bond fund.

City Manager Jo Leyland said the increase in bond funds includes the bonds for repaving the apron and taxiways. These projects won’t be completed for one to two years.

The authority issued bonds to cover their share of that cost and retired other bonds that had higher interest rates.

Several entities kept their tax askings the same. These include Chase County, the Wauneta Rural Fire District and the Chase County Historical Society.

County Clerk Debbie Clark will set the county levies after tax requests from other counties for schools, fire districts etc. come in. That deadline is Oct. 15, Clark said.

The accompanying chart shows the tax requests for each entity in the county for both 2012 and 2013 budget years, the increase or decrease in those askings and the percent of change.